Grants:IEG/Reimagining Wikipedia Mentorship/Timeline

This project is funded by an Individual Engagement Grant

Timeline for Reimagining Wikipedia Mentorship

Timeline	Date
Develop comprehensive skill list and organizational scheme Done	June 17 - July 1 2014
Develop interview protocols intended for current mentors to refine measurement ideas Done	June 20 - Early July
Hire programmer and graphic designer Done	August 2014
Begin to develop graphic design elements (logo, theming) Done Complete graphic design elements	Early September Early October
Begin interviews for existing help spaces. Done Complete preliminary findings from interviews Done	Early September Early October
Develop a rough but testable space for initial debugging (i.e. alpha build) Done	November 2014
Begin pilot program Done	December 2014
Complete data collection for pilot program (i.e. beta build) Done	Late January 2015
Complete data analysis and final report for pilot program Done	End of February 2015

Monthly updates

Please prepare a brief project update each month, in a format of your choice, to share progress and learnings with the community along the way. Submit the link below as you complete each update.

June-July

We've posted an update on our English Wikipedia hub. I alerted several communities about our progress, including the Teahouse, Editor Retention, and the Adopt-a-user program. I JethroBT (talk) 10:20, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

July-August

We've posted an update on our English Wikipedia hub. A WMF blog post detailing the project and our progress is due to post on 27 August. I JethroBT (talk) 10:14, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

WMF blog post is up! I JethroBT (talk) 02:31, 29 August 2014 (UTC)

August-September

We've posted an update to our hub on the English Wikipedia here. Will focus on getting the word out in a few (new) spots on en.wiki this coming week. I JethroBT (talk) 23:07, 19 September 2014 (UTC)

September-October (Midpoint)

See Grants:IEG/Reimagining Wikipedia Mentorship/Midpoint and en:Wikipedia talk:Co-op/October – November. I JethroBT (talk) 12:40, 2 November 2014 (UTC)

October-November

We've posted an update on our English Wikipedia hub. I JethroBT (talk) 10:14, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

I've also posted a general invitation for mentors on WikiProject Editor Retention here. I JethroBT (talk) 08:20, 2 December 2014 (UTC)

November-December

I've posted a report of this path month's activities with some thoughts on our close-to-finalized logo here. We have also initiated discussions with mentors about how the space will work here. I JethroBT (talk) 07:44, 30 December 2014 (UTC)

December-January

January-February

Is your final report due but you need more time?

Extension request

New end date

We will need an additional 1.5 months to complete our project and final report, bringing our end date for this grant to February 28th, 2015.

Rationale

There are two factors motivating my decision to file an extension for this grant:

It is important to dedicate some time to test the initial build of the Co-op to ensure it is ready to pilot, particularly with regard to a functional matching tool, that user profiles can be built and used properly, and that bots we intend to use in the space are operating as expected. We have allocated one month of time dedicated to debugging this initial build.
The nature of this project requires that a sufficient amount of time be given to allow mentorship to occur during the pilot, and for both learners and mentors to develop an opinion of how well the Co-op was able to facilitate this process. In addition, some skills we intend to offer in this space are complex, such as how deletion processes work or how to cite sources in articles. Depending on how often learners and mentors can meet, a lesson may not end right away, and we also want to encourage learners to learn multiple editing skills. Therefore, we have opted to allow a two-month pilot period to give plenty of time for mentorship to take place.

Please let me know if you have any questions or need any clarifications in this request. Thank you for your consideration. I JethroBT (talk) 22:15, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Hi I JethroBT, this request is approved. I agree the work ahead is large and you'll need enough time to debug and test the user experience so that we can learn something important from this project. Your new end-date is February 28th 2015, which means your final report is due by March 30th. Thanks for giving careful thought to the road ahead - looking forward to the team's findings! Siko (WMF) (talk) 00:03, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

Extension request

New end date

We will need an additional 1.5 months (on top of our prior extension) to complete our project and final report, bringing our end date for this grant to April 15th.

Rationale

A considerable amount of time has been spent on the part of our team in searching for individuals with appropriate web building and design skills, particularly after our initial graphic designer announced he was leaving our team in October. We have identified these individuals, but have lost considerable time in terms of being able to build and actively test the space, let alone allow our mentors to familiarize themselves with it prior to pilot. On the basis that the building and testing of the interface will take us into January, we intend to begin pilot in the middle of January until late February/early March. Surveying will begin toward the end of this cycle leaving us with the month of March and some of April to complete data analysis and compile our final report. I JethroBT (talk) 21:55, 24 November 2014 (UTC)

Hi, I JethroBT. Let's call it 2 months even, just to be safe :) (I won't penalize you for being early, of course). Extension approved, with a final report now due on April 30th. There's a lot of work to do for this project, getting the new team members up to speed hasn't been easy, and having enough time to measure the impact is important. Cheers, Siko (WMF) (talk) 01:15, 17 December 2014 (UTC)